It is wildly gratifying when an application you helped create provides a little bit of inspiration for a Saturday Night Live skit. Poking equal amounts of fun at the different multi-touch political news apps out there, including NBC’s Electoral Surface Applications, this skit had all of Vectorform in stitches. See the video below for some interesting political scenarios, including New Hampshire’s secession from the US.

Halloween is right around the corner, and here at Vectorform we are setting the mood with our newest Surface Experience: Vect-O’ Lantern. Created using Microsoft Expression Blend, this application is proof that developers can make unique and engaging Surface Experiences with simple controls that come bundled right in the Surface SDK. Vect-O’Lantern is made by using an Ink Canvas layered with effects to make a highly addictive Pumpkin Carving Experience.

So this year, instead of going through the trouble of buying a pumpkin, carving tools, and covering kitchen tables in newspapers, we can all draw on our pumpkins on a Surface. Save as many custom Vect-O’Lanterns as you like, then watch it come to life, flickering with a soft candle glow and cycling through other pumpkin creations. Okay, okay maybe this year we don’t all have a Surface…next year then!! (~_^)

Authenticity is the driver for the cool ancient Chinese board game of Surface GO. When the Microsoft HPC group approached Vectorform with this concept, we jumped right in and crafted the NUI to drive home the Surface experience through intuitive gesturing game play actions, design and functionality.

Using WPF coding allowed us a shorter development time and gave our creative team the ability to make larger contributions. We used Microsoft Expression Blend to build UI elements such as clam shell and slate stones and a fully 3D rendered wood grain board.

To round out the authenticity of the experience, we added in ambient and game play sounds. Surface GO features multiple game play options including a 9×9 board, a 19×19 board, handicap options, and most exciting is that you can chose between human vs. human, AI vs. human or AI vs. AI. That’s right, you can chose from a list of GO engines and pit super computers against each other. This game has more move combinations than chess and will be featured at Microsoft PDC 2008.